All Rise...

The Charge

Do you feel lucky?

The Case

There are few movie genres more disposable than the direct-to-DVD sequel.
It's particularly taken hold in recent years, as studios realize they can cash
in recognizable titles with in-name-only follow ups to movie that didn't warrant
them, but which might generate revenue on the basis of their familiarity without
ever having to spend a bunch of money creating prints or advertising for a wide
theatrical release. It's particularly popular with horror movies, which have
always been the most sequelized of any genre, mostly because horror fans don't
particularly care what a movie is about or who it stars as long as it's horror.
Even more than standard horror fare, the direct-to-DVD horror sequel is nothing
but product—a series of familiar beats and kills with some name
recognition. So it's somewhat surprising that Hostel: Part III—the
third in a series of already-maligned horror movies—actually makes an
effort to be more than just forgettable fodder. That's more than likely because
it's directed by Scott Spiegel, one of the writers on Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II and whose last effort as
a director was another direct-to-DVD horror sequel, 1999's From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood
Money. He's a guy who knows horror movies, and it shows.

A pretty standard group of guy-movie friends, including douchey Carter (Kip
Pardue, Driven), obnoxious married guy Mike
(Skyler Stone, Stuck on You) and sensitive
Justin (John Hensley, Nip/Tuck) head
off to Vegas for the bachelor party of Scott (Brian Hallisay, Bottoms Up). There's drinking. There's
hookers. There's the Elite Hunting Club, a super secret organization that allows
its members to torture and murder civilians for huge sums of money. Guess where
this particular bachelor party ends up?

From its opening moments, Hostel: Part III is intent on subverting
what you've come to expect from a Hostel movie. In most
instances, that doesn't make it less predictable—especially once you
figure out the game that the movie is playing—but I have to at least
admire the movie for having to ambition to be a little different, rather than
just a straight remake of the first film. Most direct-to-DVD horror sequels have
little on their minds beyond repeating the formula, so I'll give Hostel: Part
III credit for acknowledging the formula, then twisting it just enough to
try and keep things fresh.

What that adds up to, though, is a horror movie that's really only about
being different from the other Hostel movies. Though he's a polarizing
figure and his films have their detractors, a case could be made that Eli Roth's
two films in the series are about not just displacement, but about a particular
kind of class warfare. Those with means are allowed to murder and get away with
it because they have means; the rest of us (you might call us the 99 percent)
have no value except that which the ruling class is willing to pay in order to
torture and murder us. There are some of those ideas at work in Hostel: Part
III, but not really; it's more concerned with distinguishing itself by
transporting the Elite Hunting Club from Europe to Las Vegas. In doing so,
though, it loses much of what made the first two movies scary—the sense of
being displaced in a land you don't know, where you don't speak the language and
don't know how to get help. In fact, there's barely an actual hostel anywhere in
the movie; most of the "activity" takes place in hotels and secret
back rooms where high rollers place bets on things like how long it will take
victims to beg for their lives or invoke their own families as a plea for mercy.
That's really the only wrinkle that Vegas adds to the series, and it's woefully
underdeveloped. I like adding a gambling component to the Elite Hunting Club,
but Hostel: Part III just introduces it and forgets it in favor of
increasingly silly plot twists.

Though this is the "unrated" version (a pretty meaningless title,
seeing as no "rated" version was ever released), gore fans might
actually be a little disappointed with Hostel Part III. There are a few
bloody set pieces (including a terrible one involving cockroaches that's a mess
both in concept and in execution), but anyone looking for hardcore "torture
porn" (a dismissive label that I can't stand) isn't going to get the red
meat they're hoping for. Except for one graphic "facelift" and perhaps
the best solution to tire spikes ever put on film, the movie is actually kind of
tame—at least, by modern horror movie standards.

The movie arrives on DVD courtesy of Sony, which offers an adequate
presentation with just a single bonus feature. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer
looks decent, opting for a slightly grainier, cheaper look than in the first two
slicker Hostel movies. Colors are fine and black levels are consistent,
with the image retaining a kind of sickly green hue that's obviously very much
by design. The 5.1 audio track (offered in a half dozen different languages) is
serviceable, keeping the dialogue clear in the center channel and reserving the
surround speakers for background noise and the occasional shock effect.
Hostel: Part III isn't really a movie that depends on sound all that much
for its scares, so the audio track isn't asked to jump through any hoops. Still,
fans of the movie will find it satisfying enough.

The only bonus feature included on the disc (beyond the requisite bonus
trailers that play upon startup, because that's how Sony do) is a commentary
track with director Scott Spiegel and star Kip Pardue. It's chatty and
lightweight, worth listening to only because Spiegel is so well-versed in
low-budget horror filmmaking and has some interesting things to say on the
subject. The pair covers the basics of the production and offers a few pieces of
trivia, making for pretty standard commentary stuff. At least it's done with
energy and humor.

As wholly unnecessary direct-to-DVD sequels go, Hostel: Part III
isn't too bad. It's hardly required viewing, especially if you're not already a
fan of the first two movies, but devotees of the series will find plenty to
like. I hope that Sony is smart enough to retire the brand before the law of
diminishing returns tarnishes it forever, but I suspect this one is just good
enough to commission another DVD sequel. Can't say as I'm too excited by that
prospect.